Suspected car burglar hit with bat in Springdale

Updated 6:14 pm, Monday, January 22, 2018

STAMFORD — A suspected car burglar carrying a knife on Hope Street was slammed in the head with a baseball bat by a resident and staggered off into the night, despite police trying to find him.

Sgt. Roberty Shawinsky said police were called by a Springdale resident just after 1 a.m. Monday who said he had been sleeping lightly after hearing that some cars were being broken into around his neighborhood near Avon Lane.

He said just before 1 a.m. the man said he heard something outside and armed himself with a wooden baseball bat before venturing outdoors to have a look around.

The resident found a man weighing about 150 pounds, dressed in all black crouched down behind a stone wall.

When the resident saw the man he began to yell and that is when the man stood up and a knife could be seen in his right hand, police said. The man took a swing at the stranger and ended up hitting him in the back of the head, Shawinsky said.

“The suspect was reported to have stumbled backwards and got up and began running north of Hope Street,” Shawinsky said.

None of the vehicles appeared to have been broken into.

A police dog was brought out to find a track for the man in black. But the trail ran from Short Hill Street, south on Knickerbocker Avenue and petered out at Elizabeth Avenue, Shawinsky said.